


Come With Me

by Veeebles



Category: Drop Dead Fred (1991)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 17:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9501989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veeebles/pseuds/Veeebles
Summary: Her vision swooped and Fred became just a blur of orange and green lying on the floor in front of her.“Leave him,” his voice was so low, quiet, gentle even, so unlike Fred.“I can’t,” she confessed, “I’m scared to be alone.”His smile was soft, his eyes watching her stagger closer to him. He reached up for her, arms wide.“Come with me.”





	

Her gut clenched and she turned away from the bedroom door. Bile rose in her throat as the knowledge that Charlie would never change swam in her head. She could still faintly hear him speaking to Anabella in a sultry voice.

“You’ve got to leave him,” came Fred’s voice, spoken softly.

Her head was spinning, stomach lurching, eyes feeling like they were being pressed into her skull.

“I don’t feel so good.”

Her vision swooped and Fred became just a blur of orange and green lying on the floor in front of her.

“Leave him,” his voice was so low, quiet, gentle even, so unlike Fred.

“I can’t,” she confessed, “I’m scared to be alone.”

His smile was soft, his eyes watching her stagger closer to him. He reached up for her, arms wide.

“Come with me.”

She was vaguely aware of the cold wall beneath her palm. The room was spinning and all she could hear was Fed’s soft voice. Her knees gave out and she was falling. She briefly worried about hurting her friend as she fell down towards him, but she drifted through him, landing not quite on him, almost becoming part of him. She felt his arms wrap around her but it was like a warm presence.

Her vision went black, then white, then she was floating above clouds.

“Fred?” she called out to him timidly, scared, unsure.

“Yeah?” his voice was still noting but a quiet whisper.

“Where are we going?”

She could hear his smile in his voice, “use your imagination.”

So many times he had said that to her. Use your imagination. If reality isn’t good, make your fantasies better. If you are sad, get happy. If you are lost and don’t know where to go, think of what makes you the happiest and go there.

“Fred.”

Her feet met ground and her vision cleared. She didn’t feel unwell anymore. She looked around her and was surprised at where she found herself.  

The night her father had walked out for good he had said goodbye, explained that he wasn’t going to see her for a while, that he was going away from her mother and wasn’t coming back.

She hadn’t cried when her father left, she hadn’t truly understood what his leaving meant.

It was later, when she had found her mother crying in the Livingroom, and asked her if daddy was leaving because mummy hadn’t been good, like Cinderella.

Her mother had shrieked at her, “get away from me! It’s all your fault! You’re the reason he left! Not me! Just get out of my sight you horrid girl!”

She had ran to her room, terrified of her mother, throwing her door closed and braced her weight against it, sobbing into her nightdress.

Warm hands had come around her, lifting her up into a gentle embrace. A familiar voice whispered in her ear and kissed her hair and they sat on the bed.

Fred held her tight in his arms and wiped away her tears, trying to make her laugh by pointing to her running eyes and nose, calling her Snotface.

“Don’t listen to her, Snotface, your great! Your daddy left because of the Mega Bitch’s death breath!”

She had giggled a little at that, laughing some more when Fred teased her, tickling her ribs singing “you can’t cry for laughing! Can’t cry for laughing!”

He had wiped her tears away and kissed her forehead.

“Let’s run away, Fred, let’s go somewhere it’s only me and you,” she had pleaded, accepting the drink of water Fred offered her to soothe her hot cheeks and aching head from how much she had cried.

“You got it, Snotface! Where will we go? France? Germany? Oh! I know! China! We can take over the great wall! Make it the fortress of Queen Lizzie and King Fred!”

She had laughed, excited at this idea, “let’s do it Fred! Let’s go now!”

They had packed her small suitcase with all their essentials; dolls, a jumper, a few pieces of paper and crayons, some rocks in case they needed to fight anyone, and some sweeties for Fred.

They climbed out the window and set off, running down the road, Fred whooping and laughing all the while, yelling goodbyes to the Mega Bitch that made little Lizzie laugh.

The moon was their only guide but it was enough for them, she had Fred and Fred knew everything.

“Okay, Snotface, we’re halfway there! But we need to rest for the night then continue on in the morning! So I think we should take over that castle over there, declare ourselves the leaders of the land, then in the morning our slaves can carry us to the China wall!”

Lizzie had agreed eagerly, climbing up to the castle which had really been a neighbour’s treehouse. It belonged to a little girl whose parents bought her lots of expensive presents. The treehouse had been built for her 8th birthday and it was the most magnificent treehouse Lizzie had ever seen. It was big inside, furnished with a bed, a table, some shelves and even a couch! The windows were all filled with real glass and the door even had a lock on it.

They climbed inside, Fred locking it behind them and fought the guards that came to stop them. After, Fred was named bravest knight by Queen Lizzie and he bowed to her as she sat upon her throne.

When the days eventually caught up to her, Lizzie collapsed onto the bed, cuddling up to Fred, dozing off quickly in his warm arms.

“Fred,” she mumbled, half asleep.

“Yes, Snotface?”

“You won’t ever leave me will you? You won’t go away like daddy did?”

His arms tightened around her and he stroked her hair away from her face, “of course I won’t, Snotface! You’re my best friend, I don’t want anyone ese, I’ll stay with you forever and ever and ever!”

The girl who owned the treehouse had found them there the next morning, her parents had called her mother and Lizzie had been driven home and shouted at by her mother for running away. She was made to spend the rest of her week grounded in her room. But Fred was there.

Fred was always there.

That was where she found herself now; back in that treehouse. It was different though, it fitted her now grown-up size. Everything was just as she remembered; her suitcase was even sitting beside the door, the table on its side from when Fred had rolled over it while fighting off a strong soldier.

Lizzie smiled as she wandered around the room, reaching out to touch the soft fabric of the bed, the paper of the royal letters she had written, the blanket Fred had tied around her waist that made her nightdress into a royal dress.

The door opened and Lizzie jumped but a grin broke out on her face when she saw it was Fred. Her Fred.

He grinned at her and spread his arms around, “look what you did, Lizzie! You made magic with your imagination! You remembered your happy place!”

“Fred!” she went to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

He laughed but he hugged her back tightly.

“So what now, Fred? Why are we here?”

He pulled away to smile down at her, “this is your happy place, Snotface! We will do whatever will make you happy.”

Her smile faded and she looked away from him, “Charlie…I have to leave him, don’t I?”

“He doesn’t deserve you, Lisibeth.”

She smiled at his words, believing them for the first time.

“But now I’ll be all alone.”

“Hey!” his hand under her chin pulled her face to look at him, “you’re got me, Snotface, remember? I’ll stay with you forever.”

She smiled at him, feeling the truth in his words. Her dear Fred, he may drive her crazy most of the time but he had always been there for her through everything. When her mother’s words had been so hard she was left sobbing into her bed covers it was him that pulled her into his arms and told her she was amazing, more amazing than her mother would ever know because she was too stupid to see it. He told her she was beautiful when her mother had cut her hair and complained the entire time that she would no longer be pretty. He told her he would always be there for her when her mother told her she didn’t love her as much as she used to.

 And even now, when he was stuck with her being grown up, being wise to the world, lived in it. He was no longer the clever, older one, he was lost. He didn’t know grown-ups, he didn’t know how to be one. He was completely out of his depth, trying desperately to stay the fun loving playful Fred from her past, but also the grown up friend she needed nw. Even through all this he stayed by her side, went through it all for her.

“Snotface? You okay?”

She realised she was crying when his fingers brushed away her tears and his arms came around her.

“Lizzie I’m sorry, you’re supposed to be happy here…maybe my magic got it wrong… tell me how to help you.”

“Oh, Fred,” she pulled away to look up at him, smiling through her tears, bushing her fingers over his cheek as she frowned in worry down at her, “you are helping me, more than you could ever know.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“I’m just so happy, Fred, I’m so happy you’re here with me.”

He smiled at her and kissed her nose, the same way he used to do when she was a little girl, before he pretended to vomit and yell about how girly it was. She knew he did it just to cheer her up and make her laugh.

He wasn’t doing it now.

She had never realised how blue his eyes were. How soft and clear his skin was.

How soft his lips were against hers.

She kissed him softly, just a small sip at his lips before pulling way to look at him.

He just stood there, frozen in…shock? Confusion?

Lizzie began panicking that she had overstepped her bounds. He was her imaginary friend; he was there to make her happy but this was definitely not in the job requirement. But they did have a unique situation. She was a grown up now. They were breaking all the rules.

Then he was leaning in too, his forehead pressing against here’s, his breath coming out in a low sigh.

He seemed so unsure, so unlike himself.

He kissed her softly, timidly. Just a small taste of her lips, innocent and sweet.

“I love you, Fred.”

He smiled, pulling her close against his body, kissing her hair and breathing her in, “I love you too, Snotface, forever and ever and ever.”


End file.
